2018 Paris-Nice, 4/3-11/3

[May0maniac]

At some point you have to start wondering if Sky has knowledge of some dark magic, because I really can't find more plausible explanations anymore. It's probably not really the case but it feels as if this team is just getting more and more ridiculous year after year.

I'm happy about Großschartner's performance though. He's looking phenomenal.

Yes, that was a great performance by Großschartner, he seems to be a nice guy.
Last year I met his friends and family at the start of the Piancavallo stage, they came to support him, they were really nice. I didn't expect him to be this good.
Konrad also did a decent ITT and the hilly/medium mountain stages should suit him well.

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

We've gotten to the stage that the Dutch mafia is rooting against Dutch Sky riders

Sky can do that to you!

He won jack **** before he joined Sky.

What’s your point caller?

 

[Blanco]

It's far from over. Poels is highly inconsistent and the stages could be very unpredictable. Chaves and Fuglsang will certainly attack, Alaphilippe also, Wellens possibly. Poels could crack anywhere, and I think he will.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

We've gotten to the stage that the Dutch mafia is rooting against Dutch Sky riders

Sky can do that to you!

He won jack **** before he joined Sky.

What’s your point caller?

It's very hard to guess :lol:

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

We've gotten to the stage that the Dutch mafia is rooting against Dutch Sky riders

Sky can do that to you!

He won jack **** before he joined Sky.

Three years before he joined Sky he had a nearly career ending crash. Before that he was seen as a promising talent who wasn’t quite there yet. After that it was a long recovery. By the year before he joined Sky he was starting to get back to where he was expected to be, won a stage of the Basque Country and then landed a Sky contract. He was and is the kind of rider who is worth more to Sky as one of a group of superdoms than he was or is to a team where he’d be a leader because he absolutely cannot he relied on to string consecutive top form days together.

There are a lot of unexpected transformations at Sky, but of the much improved riders there he’s one of the ones where there is an obvious reasonable explanation.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

We've gotten to the stage that the Dutch mafia is rooting against Dutch Sky riders

Sky can do that to you!

He won jack **** before he joined Sky.

Three years before he joined Sky he had a nearly career ending crash. Before that he was seen as a promising talent who wasn’t quite there yet. After that it was a long recovery. By the year before he joined Sky he was starting to get back to where he was expected to be, won a stage of the Basque Country and then landed a Sky contract. He was and is the kind of rider who is worth more to Sky as one of a group of superdoms than he was or is to a team where he’d be a leader because he absolutely cannot he relied on to string consecutive top form days together.

There are a lot of unexpected transformations at Sky, but of the much improved riders there he’s one of the ones where there is an obvious reasonable explanation.

That one crash doesn't explain away his 5 years as a pro before Sky. Also he rode for Vacansoleil... although the stories about that team belong in the clinic.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

:razz: So Poels:
- destroyed everyone;
- was perfect;
- is going to win TdF;
- proved we don`t need to get rid of Sky;
- will crush everybody in mountain stage;
- is gonna win MTF with closed eyes;
- is a Dutch-Sky-Borg;
- had excellent win;
- could do that for us;
- is obviously the favourite..
..
Excellent!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

That one crash doesn't explain away his 5 years as a pro before Sky.

His pre crash years, ages 20-24 are within the range we would expect for a guy who is very good now. That a guy with his promising but not world beating results as a young rider is now very good does not really need an explanation. What needs an explanation is that there’s no period of gradual improvement in the years in between, connecting the promising early 20s to the erratic but sometimes brilliant late 20s. The crash, and subsequent recovery, does explain that.

This is cycling. I’m not vouching for anybody. But Poel’s jump in results isn’t a big unexplained red flag in and of itself. Unlike a lot of guys who make a big mid career jump forward, there’s an explanation.

To put it in context, when he got injured he was about the same age Soler is now and had marginally better palmares.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re: Re:

That one crash doesn't explain away his 5 years as a pro before Sky.

His pre crash years, ages 20-24 are within the range we would expect for a guy who is very good now. That a guy with his promising but not world beating results as a young rider is now very good does not really need an explanation. What needs an explanation is that there’s no period of gradual improvement in the years in between, connecting the promising early 20s to the erratic but sometimes brilliant late 20s. The crash, and subsequent recovery, does explain that.

This is cycling. I’m not vouching for anybody. But Poel’s jump in results isn’t a big unexplained red flag in and of itself. Unlike a lot of guys who make a big mid career jump forward, there’s an explanation.

To put it in context, when he got injured he was about the same age Soler is now and had marginally better palmares.

Skinny riders becoming great time trial specialists will always be an unexplained red flag for me.

 

[Parker]

Why are people shocked that Poels can time trial? The Netherlands picked him for the time trial at the last Olympics (he pulled out beforehand though)

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

It's far from over. Poels is highly inconsistent and the stages could be very unpredictable. Chaves and Fuglsang will certainly attack, Alaphilippe also, Wellens possibly. Poels could crack anywhere, and I think he will.

Certainly expect Fuglsang to go early on Friday or Saturday (tomorrow the sprinter teams will try to pull it together, after the climb)... it will allow the rest of Astana to sit back all day, to be there for Sanchez in the finale, and let someone else do the work, and since Fuglsang has got nothing to lose, it will allow him to test his long range attack, which he might need during the TdF.

Martin lost a lot of time today, so will also have to go early, to redeem himself.

 

[Escarabajo]

I will not jump to any conclusions about Poels just yet until this race is finished.

Besides as I said in a previous post the profile from Paris Nice organizers was kind of misleading. It looks like more hilly than it looked in the profile. Therefore you get few climbers getting in the top ten. Poels being a good TT plus a climber was going to do very well. My 2 cents.

 

[Scarponi]

The fact people are mad at Poels for this and not him being chasing down Grand Tour champions every year on multi mountain stages, the amount of times he's closed on Nibali Quintana and Contador for Froome

 

[Pantani_lives]

I already found it weird that Alaphilippe was top favorite according to this poll. I voted Henao, but knew it could just as well be Poels.

Most likely Henao with set the pace on Saturday and Lulu will get dropped. Hopefully there will be attacks by Chaves, Alaphilippe or Yates, but I'm afraid it will just be the Sky train controlling the race again.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Groenewegen abandoned due to a cold (doesnt want to take risks).

So probably Viviani/demare today

 

[Jagartrott]

Let's see if someone or some team wants to race on the 1st cat. 11 km and 7% offers possibilities.

 

[Netserk]

Breakaway win.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

Skippo12:

What you don't seem to understand is, that it was Sanchez's choice to make, and he clearly did not go for the stage win.

He could have easily forced the others to take turns, or taken a shot to get away from them, but it would probably have cost him 30 seconds on the peloton.

As such, this is not a moral issue, as Sanchez made the choice himself, to ride the way he did, with the priorities he had.

I completly understand this...it is pretty obvious because he set a consistent pace for the last kms. I can still be unhappy with the result and voice my opinion.

Just seems illogical to me.... kinda like arguing Lars Bak should win, not Greibel, because he did all the hard work.

Sanchez could have easily beaten both his compatriots, everyone knows that, but it would have cost him a once in a lifetime GC opportunity, so why begrudge a guy from another team, for which this will be the biggest win of the season, most probably, that he plays it smart and gets the job done, for his employer?

Twice in a lifetime.

He hasn't hit the TT with such a gap before

 

[Charon]

Jérôme Cousin (Direct Energie), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Julien El Fares (Delko Marseille), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) in the breakaway.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Jérôme Cousin (Direct Energie), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Julien El Fares (Delko Marseille), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) in the breakaway.

4 mins at about -50km

Wow
still at 4min at -40km .... stay tuned

 

[Krokro]

It's for the break. Who's the fastest? I don't really know those riders very well. Politt is a huge rouleur, Edet is some climber so I'd say Cousin or El Fares?

 

[rick james]

this will be some chase

 

[Samamba]

Don't think the bunch will catch them.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Don't think the bunch will catch them.

They’re chasing super hard though.

 

[Laplaz]

Will be interesting to see if someone tries something on the two little climbs now